Freihafen Schoetmar
Freihafen Schötmar is what happens when a municipal utility company decides coworking is part of its civic mission. Housed inside the renovated Festhalle Schötmar, a historic event hall in the spa town of Bad Salzuflen, this government-operated coworking space is run by Stadtwerke Bad Salzuflen as part of their "Gute Werke" community investment initiative. With Cobot handling memberships, billing, and access control, the team stays focused on building a new kind of third place for their town.
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The Story Behind Freihafen Schoetmar
Freihafen Schoetmar is a government-operated coworking space in Bad Salzuflen, Germany, created by the local municipal utility company, Stadtwerke Bad Salzuflen. The idea started with a simple realization: a modern municipal utility serves more than electricity and water. It serves quality of life.
The team saw an opportunity to revitalize the Schoetmar district by creating what they call a "third place," a space where work, community, and new ideas come together. For a traditional utility company, this was a bold move. But the motivation was clear: active neighborhood development paired with a chance to connect with startups, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who bring fresh thinking to the region.
The space offers flexible options designed for a wide range of people. Fully furnished offices are available for long-term rent. Individual desks can be booked for a single day. Meeting rooms serve smaller groups, and a large hall handles conferences and major events.
"As a traditional municipal utility, we've historically been responsible for providing essential public services. Today, that means more than just electricity and water. It's about quality of life and the sustainability of our city."
The Challenge: Automating Operations from Day One
Running a government-operated coworking space inside a municipal utility comes with a different reality. Coworking is just one project among many. The same organization is also responsible for electricity, gas, water, public transport, and even swimming pools. Because of that, every manual process in the coworking space takes time away from other responsibilities.
From the start, Freihafen Schoetmar needed a setup that works efficiently. The team knew that manual billing, key management, and membership tracking would quickly take up valuable time. Instead, they focused on putting digital processes in place early, so they could spend more of their time on building the space and its community.
That also shaped how they approached their software choice. They looked at various tools but needed something purpose-built for coworking. The software had to manage memberships, automate billing, and integrate with a professional access control system like SimonsVoss through CRE:OS. Getting this right before opening day was essential.
"When looking for software that manages and also automates, it's hard to overlook Cobot. It's made by coworkers for coworkers. You can tell from the workflows. Additionally, the chance to fully use Cobot for free in advance was invaluable to us. It allowed us to run through various scenarios and configure all settings at our own pace."
The Solution: Cobot as Their Digital Foundation
Cobot gave Freihafen Schoetmar a fully automated operational layer before the doors even opened. The team used Cobot's trial period to configure settings, test scenarios, and run through their workflows at their own pace. This was especially helpful because Cobot allows spaces to extend their trial indefinitely as long as the space has not yet opened, giving the Freihafen team the time they needed to get everything right.
Three things stood out during the evaluation: Cobot's specialization in coworking workflows, its scalability as the space grows, and the automation that saves time in daily operations. Automated billing runs and member management freed up the team to spend their time where it counts, on the people walking through the door.
The biggest win was the access control integration. Freihafen uses a SimonsVoss locking system, one of the market leaders, connected to Cobot through the newly launched CRE:OS system. When a member books a pass or a membership, Cobot automatically generates a link to the smartphone app. No key management. Only people with active reservations get access. The synchronization between Cobot and the locking software runs completely in the background.
The CRE:OS integration with SimonsVoss was a new addition to Cobot's ecosystem, and Freihafen Schoetmar was one of the first spaces to put it into practice. The extended trial period gave the team the chance to thoroughly test and refine this connection before launch day.
Impact at a glance:
- Fully automated billing and membership management from day one
- Keyless access control via SimonsVoss and Cobot integration via CRE:OS
- Zero manual key management
- Multiple revenue streams: day passes, dedicated desks, offices, meeting rooms, event hall
Advice for Other Spaces Considering Cobot
"Engage your community early on to create tailored offerings. Automate everything you can from the start: billing, access. This saves resources, which are often scarce in municipal structures."
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Freihafen Schötmar proves that municipal organizations can run coworking spaces. With Cobot managing billing, bookings, and SimonsVoss access control via CRE:OS, the team at Stadtwerke Bad Salzuflen keeps their focus on the community.
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